Doane v. Grew
Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court
Tort, with a declaration originally containing four counts for alleged slander of the plaintiff in charging her in substance with having been, while in the employ of the defendant as a nursery maid, impertinent and unfit to take care of children and with having struck a child of the defendant, to which three other counts were added by amendment.
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Tort, with a declaration originally containing four counts for alleged slander of the plaintiff in charging her in substance with having been, while in the employ of the defendant as a nursery maid, impertinent and unfit to take care of children and with having struck a child of the defendant, to which three other counts were added by amendment. Writ in the Municipal Court of the City of Boston dated February 24, 1911. The defendant filed a motion for specifications, and the plaintiff filed specifications stating that the words of the defendant set forth in the first count were spoken to one…
1Opinion of the CourtLoring, J.
1. The defendant’s exceptions to the charge of the presiding judge raise questions as to a defendant’s liability for false defamatory words spoken on a privileged occasion.
If the occasion on which slanderous words are spoken is a privileged one and the defendant (in saying what he said) was acting under the privilege created by the occasion, a defence is made out, even if what he said was not in fact true. Where inquiries are made as to the character and capabilities of a former servant, the occasion is a privileged one. Of that there is no question. It is the typical case of a privileged…
2Cases cited18 opinions
- Burt v. Advertiser Newspaper Co.Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court · 1891
- Moran v. DunphyMassachusetts Supreme Judicial Court · 1901
- Gott v. PulsiferMassachusetts Supreme Judicial Court · 1877
- Conner v. Standard Publishing Co.Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court · 1903
- Lothrop v. AdamsMassachusetts Supreme Judicial Court · 1882
13 more not listed; retrieve them via the Exa API.
3Cited by40 opinions
- Bratt v. International Business MacHines Corp.Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court · 1984
- Erickson v. Marsh & McLennan Co.Supreme Court of New Jersey · 1990
- Hartmann v. Boston Herald-Traveler Corp.Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court · 1948
- Coleman v. Newark Morning Ledger Co.Supreme Court of New Jersey · 1959
- Bander v. Metropolitan Life InsuranceMassachusetts Supreme Judicial Court · 1943
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